In recent years, gas or electric powered lawn trimmers have become increasingly popular. Typically, the lawn trimmer will comprise a cutting head operatively associated with a rotating shaft driven by the gas or electric powered motor. Several fishing line cutting elements are secured to the perimeter of the cutting head whereby selective rotation of the cutting head causes the fishing line to flail outwardly and cut or trim the grass as it contacts it.
Although lawn trimmers employing flexible fishing line cutting elements work well enough on conventional grass, they have been found to be not entirely satisfactory. For example, certain types of thick or coarse vegetation cannot be effectively cut or trimmed with a fishing line cutting element. Consequently, it has been proposed to use flexible plastic cutting blades for cutting thick grass or woody growth. For the most part, consumers have found it necessary to own two different trimmers, each adapted to cut the different types of vegetation.
In view of the above, it is desirable to interchange the cutting elements of the cutting head in order to adapt the trimmer to the type of vegetation being trimmed. At the present, trimmers do not permit the cutting elements to be readily changed and in many cases, replacement of the entire cutting head is necessary. Tools must be used to open the cutting head and parts are often lost during disassembly and reassembly. As is apparent, the additional work required to change the cutting head elements prolongs an already laborious chore of cutting the grass.
In addition to the above, the fishing line cutting elements found on prior art cutting heads are prone to fraying and must be routinely replaced.